Chapter Four: Barbeque Brainstorm
"And that's basically the gist of it." Master Mummy sighed. "I can have the wife show you the stairs that got broken, if you want. But that was all me - the woman didn't touch 'em."
"Hm." Ribbon Girl puffed up her cheeks, looking out into the horizon. "She doesn't sound familiar at all. So what's her story?"
"Ye shuh whash thu khih ahhz ahn thake hames." Min Min munched through a mouth full of hotdog.
" Don't talk with your mouth full. " Ribbon Girl glared.
Min Min gulped it down. "Sorry, hun. Gotta munch, gotta crunch!" She winked, taking another big bite. Ribbon Girl groaned silently.
Master Mummy flipped another burger on the grill. "I'm really sorry she came after you all. I stupidly figured she was after me and me alone."
"S'cool, dude." Lola shrugged. "Just a sticky toffee river under the bridge."
"I should have at least warned you of her." Mummy insisted. "And I thought writing into Coyle would have been enough. I really should have showed up in person..."
Master Mummy stood before a large charcoal grill with an apron tied around him. He hadn't visited Coyle in her open-hours that morning simply because he had already had plans - he was hosting a barbeque for his neighbourhood and needed the morning for preparations, rather than just leaving all of the work to his wife. Being a family of abnormal purple mummies tended to scare people away, so this barbeque was supposed to be a sign of good faith between his family and the others nearby. That was pretty fair.
"But I still feel awful not doing more to prepare you all. Are you sure you don't want any food?" He looked at them all, apologetically.
Min Min gulped down the last of her hotdog. "I do!" She wiped the corner of her mouth with the back other hand. "Gimmie some... Ribs!" She turned to wink at her girlfriend. "I loveee eating r-"
"You make that joke every time ." She sighed, rolling her eyes.
Mummy grabbed some with his tongs and placed it on her paper plate, then addressed Lola. "So you say she came to see you and Mechanica after leaving me on the stairs?"
"Yup." Lola shrugged back. "Then presumably hit up the ARMS Lab. Mechy and Coyle are checkin' it out right now, they just sent us ahead."
"I see." He sighed, adding more sausages to the grill. "Well I'm not sure what else I can tell you, really. It was all very quick."
A young boy ran up to Ribbon Girl and tapped her on the shoulder. "H-Hi! Sorry, could I get your autograph? I'm a huge fan of your music!" Ribbon Girl smiled, blushing a little, and accepted his pen and notebook gracefully. As she signed, the boy turned back to Mummy. "Hey, this is a great barbeque! My parents are really having fun."
Mummy turned with a smile to the couple by the fence, who were chit-chatting with his wife. "I'm glad this is all working out. I was pretty worried no one would show." His yard was actually rather full with local guests for once.
The boy took his notebook back from Ribbon Girl and thanked her plenty before making his way back to his parents. "I'm really sorry all this happened the night before your barbeque." She sighed. "I doubt you needed the extra stress."
"Ah, well, it happens." He accepted. "It's pretty futile to work on my blood pressure right now anyway. My son wants to hit up ARMS League World the day it opens. It'd all be undone in an instant!"
ARMS League World - or ARMS League World Park & Celebrations, for it's full title - was a brand new theme park opening up nearby that had all its attractions loosely based on fighters in the ARMS League roster. Why does a fighting platform need a theme park? Who cares: you can get inflated-Lola balloons at the entrance!
"Oh damn!" Min Min grinned with barbecue sauce all over her face. "Is that opening soon?"
"On Friday, yes." Mummy cautiously confirmed.
"And today's, what, Monday? That's only like four nights away! Oh we are so going."
"Ab-so-lu-tely no-t." Ribbon Girl firmly replied. "That place looks like hell on Earth."
"Whaaaaat? Nooooo!" Min Min assured. "It's a wicked-ass theme park with rides-" She emphasized with her hands enthusiastically. " Based! On! Us! "
"That place does look pretty rockin'." Lola agreed. "But they went super boring with my ride. Lola's Sweet Street? It's just a slow drive through a candy land! Borrrrringgggg."
"Sucks, dude." Min Min grinned. "They got a wicked coaster for me! It's got this awesome dragon cart that goes NYOOOOOOM at lightning speeds~"
"Sounds awful." Ribbon Girl mumbled, shaking her head.
"What do they got for Ribs?" Min Min posed to Lola.
"S'called the Ribbon Twister, I think. Just a coaster with a ton of loops, and I guess it looks like a ribbon or something?"
"Oh cool - I hate it!" Ribbon Girl smiled fakely. "I don't even want to think of a ride like that."
"You big babyyyyyyyyyyyy!" Min Min sighed. "Do they have any coasters don't have loops, then? Ribs thinks they're 'dangerous'."
" You go like entirely upside down for a moment, why wouldn't that be dangerous? " Ribbon Girl muttered viciously.
"They got the King Cobra, which is mostly just straight and up, down, and around. But it's also, like, the fastest in the park. Or any park? It's got a world record or somethin'."
"Nooope. Nope nope nope." Ribbon Girl inhaled dramatically. " Never happening."
"Hey guys!" Mechanica smiled, approaching them from around the side of the house, Coyle at her side. "Sorry we're late..."
"Yo, Mechy!" Min Min grinned. "Come to ARMS League World with me on Friday!"
Ribbon Girl gasped. "No no no, you are not taking her there! I will not let you have her killed. "
"That sounds fun! I hope I'm tall enough for all the fun rides." She smiled, before frowning. "They were super boring with my ride... It's just a little kiddy train that goes like three miles an hour."
"Ah, good! That's perfect for Ribs, then~" Min Min teased.
"Could we please focus for a moment?" Coyle glared at the others. "The shapeshifter did break into the ARMS Lab last night. Min Min's retinal scanner point proved true." She grabbed the tablet from under her ARM and began to flick through some things on it. "Master Mummy..."
"Oh, would you like some barbeque?" He asked as he motioned to the grill.
"N-" Coyle paused and took a look at the grill. "...Okay, yeah, I'll take a steak actually. Smells good." She passed him the tablet as he handed her a plate of meat, and they exchanged them. "Is that the woman who attacked you?"
Mummy looked over the image - a blurry security camera shot from the ARMS Lab vault. "Yes, I believe it is."
"She spent most of her time there as Mechanica, but she flickered back into that form for a short moment and looked right at the camera. I think she wants us to see her." Coyle bit straight into her steak with a mighty chomp.
Ribbon Girl took the tablet from Master Mummy and looked at it, as Min Min and Lola watched from over her shoulder. "This is her...? She looks so young..." She appeared to be, after all, only about as old as Ribbon Girl - perhaps a touch younger, even. She hit the play button in the corner and watched as the girl destroyed the servers in front of her, and then faded back into Mechanica's form. "Hm. Well it's definitely the same thing we saw on the circus' tape. What was she doing in the Lab?"
Coyle wiped the corner of her mouth subtly. "Well what you saw there is her destroying some of our servers. To be specific, she selected the ones with our databases on ARMS people who come in for masks. We can't exactly make out what her ARMS are made of from this footage, but if we could we would have been able to use that database to narrow down who exactly she is, based on ARMS material and other visual factors. I guess she was covering her tracks."
"She, um..." Mechanica started. "...She also stole some things from the vault."
"Such as?" Min Min raised her eyebrow.
Coyle stayed silent, taking back the tablet and putting it under her ARM again.
"Uh..." Mechanica looked nervously at Coyle. "It was all Deep Green classed stuff, so, um... Coyle doesn't really want to tell us what it was."
"That's reassuring." Min Min sighed.
"It was two large cases. That's all you need to know." Coyle glared. "Springtron, the hunk of junk he is, helped her find them. I don't care if he thought it was Mechanica - he should have been following security protocols. Useless scrap heap. " Coyle bitterly grumbled, catching a cautious eye from the nearby neighbours who were trying to enjoy the barbeque.
Master Mummy cleared his throat. "I-I really don't mean to dismiss you, Coyle, but I do want to keep things... Calm around here. I'm really trying to get these people to like us."
She sighed. "This isn't really the best place for a meeting anyway, honestly. Any one of these people could be her in disguise..." She glared around the yard.
" Coyle, please. " Master Mummy pleaded.
She flicked her eyes back at him, then addressed the mix of fighters. "From now on, don't trust any fighter you see unless they're accompanied by another fighter who can vouch for them. As far as we know they work alone. " She struck a finger toward Ribbon Girl and Min Min. "You two are gonna be my best buddies for this investigation, seeing as you're practically always together as it is. Avoid public places as much as you can for the immediate future."
"Gotcha." Ribbon Girl nodded, despite fully intending to continue with her planned fan meet-and-greets coming up. C'monnn, what's the harm in that? Min Min will be there to protect her and she'll protect Min Min. Easy.
"Is this gonna end with me pointing a gun at two different Ribbon Girls?" Min Min joked. "'Cause I dunno which one to shoot!"
"Just ask how each of 'em feel about ARMS League World." Lola smirked.
"Oh, yeah!" Min Min grinned. "Then I'll just shoot the one who doesn't want to go. " She glared at Ribbon Girl, teasingly.
"Har har." Ribbon Girl rolled her eyes. "I'm sorry I love you too much to let you get killed in that DEATHTRAP. "
Coyle retrieved a small bit of paper from her pocket and scribbled a number onto it, then extended it to Ribbon Girl so that only she could see. "Memorize this number silently so you can repeat it to me when if I have to call you later."
"Uhhh..." Ribbon Girl squinted at it. "Okay, uh, I got it."
Coyle threw the paper scrap into the flame of the grill. "We'll switch up meeting places and get together whenever have we have a significant development here. Remember - watch your backs. We don't know for certain that getting into the ARMS Lab's vault was her main objective. She could very well still be after the rest of us."
"So what about Mummy & I?" Lola mumbled. "We good orrrrr?"
"Hm." She squinted. "I guess so. The clip from the vault shows her returning to her base form and then going back into Mechanica's. That should imply she doesn't need to stay in a form to keep it, so I doubt she'll need to revisit either of you for anything. But all the same - if you see anything suspicious, say something."
"Should I warn the others, then?" Ribbon Girl asked, pulling out her phone.
"Would be a good idea to do so, yes. Best to give them a heads up." She turned to leave the premises. "If any of 'em run into her and actually manage to fight 'em off? Lunch is on me." She turned her head quickly over her shoulder again. "But, like, don't actually tell them that, though."
With that, Coyle vanished with a shimmering electrical blue light, and presumably walked away.